The Occultation of an 11.8 Star by Tolosa

July 25, 2023 Tue eve at 9:45:12pm

This is a high rank event of a bright star, decent altitude of 22 degrees, in Virgo in the SW. The gibbous moon will brighten the sky some, only 19 degrees away, but we still should be able to get good data at 2x integration with our cameras. Skies are clean, dry, fog-free right now, 3 hours before the event. The target drops ~1.8 magnitude for up to 2.2 seconds.

Altitude=22, Az=243

Results:

Kirk and I got positives. Karl didn't snug in the video camcorder plug adequately, and so got no data. The southern limit was not that far south of Santa Cruz, in the Bay, and while the rank was nominally high, I had seen enough misses that I wanted a little more assurance, and too - the fog was a danger for downtown.

Richard Nolthenius

I was at Upper Rodeo Gulch drive, overlooking the west side at the narrower overlook about 100 yards north of the wider overlook but which isn't so good for due south. The target was in the SW . I chose a good spot, the power lines were above the target as it set, and the target nicely in the segment of sky that was visible. I almost got set up in time to see the thin crescent of Venus set over the distant horizon. But, missed it by a few seconds. I got on target without trouble. It was not a crowded field and there was a bright star very close to the target which helped too.

Comet Pons-Brooks, a quick stack in PyMovie using the Watec camera. I tried to find the comet with my Nikon at the telescope but needle/haystack trouble and gave up. It should get bright by next April.

Kirk Bender

Kirk observed from the wide berm up Empire Grade, as fog threatened but the marine layer was very shallow and didn't creep farther than the town itself.